Hunting Bill chaos halts MPs' debate

THE Commons was suspended for 40 minutes today amid chaotic scenes over moves to ban hunting. Speaker Michael Martin ordered the delay to give himself more time to consider amendments to the Hunting Bill.

THE Commons was suspended for 40 minutes today amid chaotic scenes over moves to ban hunting.

Speaker Michael Martin ordered the delay to give himself more time to consider amendments to the Hunting Bill.

It came after the government tabled a compromise amendment delaying a ban until the end of July 2007.

A number of backbenchers then came forward with amendments of their own, which Mr Martin said he needed time to consider.

He had been expected to invoke the Parliament Act to force the Bill through Parliament in the face of continued opposition by peers.

But as the Commons assembled this morning, two amendments appeared on the Order Paper - one proposing the delay to 2007 and the other, tabled by Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael's parliamentary private secretary Peter Bradley, suggesting a delay to 2006.

Ministers want the ban to come into effect after the likely general election next year to avoid the issue dominating the election campaign.

The Speaker faced a series of points of order from confused MPs as the debate was about to start.

Wrong

Manchester Gorton MP Sir Gerald Kaufman urged Mr Michael to explain how commitments given by him for a free vote were compatible with the "active activity of government whips trying to get MPs to vote for a specific amendment".

Mr Michael confirmed there would be a free vote on the Labour benches.

Peter Pike (Lab Burnley) said: "Everyone has a different interpretation of what is happening.

"People in this chamber believe that there is a rat that smells - something is wrong."

Amid chaotic scenes, anti-hunt MPs were seen to be in hurried consultation with ministers on the government front bench.

A vote to decide how long MPs would spend debating the amendments, which would normally take less than 15 minutes, took 20 minutes and Mr Martin had to order that the delay be investigated.

Ahead of the 40-minute suspension, he said the Commons clerks had informed him that a number of amendments to the Bill had been tabled and he needed time to consider them.

Parliament has just hours to resolve the issue ahead of the end of the session later today.